The remains of my morning joe, in an Artgirl mug paired with a Mason's English Ironstone saucer (pattern: Strathmore). Things don't have to match to work, is what I say.
Today is the Artgirl's birthday, and we give thanks for her life. We also rejoice with her that finally she can buy her own drinks. Our only wish is that she were here to buy them with us --- as it is, we'll have to lift one for her at the pub tonight.
I got up promptly today, ate some breakfast (Ezekiel Bread English muffin + butter + honey), and started my daily coffee drinking. That has to end before noon if I want to entertain any hope of sleeping at night, but I enjoy it while it lasts. Then I made myself get down to this hair-washing I've been putting off: two good lathers, the first involving a long scrub with the silicone scalp scrubber, the second using my fingers. I rinsed it, combed it gently out, then ran more water into it and squished in four pumps of LUS 3-in-1. My hair is all mermaidy and snaky now, though it won't stay this way once it's dry --- not in the cold weather. It all shrinks in on itself and goes straight, but that's okay. It's just my winter hair. I still use the 3-in-1, because I like the moisture and the shine (also, it smells nice), regardless of what my hair is actually doing.
Anyway, YEAH. Clean hair. I swished out the bathtub with the scrub brush and shower attachment to get rid of any residue, and we're good to go. I will soon do another round of steam cleaning in both bathrooms, but I'm not doing that today.
So, today's agenda is basically to clean the closet in the upstairs bathroom, and to retrieve the Christmas decorations from said closet. Currently they are buried under I don't know what. I cleaned the ever-living mother whatever out of that closet a year ago, but somehow it has become so unspeakably trashed --- people can't apparently just extract sheets from the shelves, but must paw through all of them and leave them pawed. And then thrust other stuff they don't know what to do with into the closet, and then stick the upstairs vacuum cleaner (I didn't even know it still worked, but apparently it does, which is useful information) on top of the lot.
SO. Yesterday my study closet. Today, onward and upward. I don't think I'll get all the closets cleaned and organized before Christmas, though goodness knows they need it. We have, actually, a lot of storage in this house, but are at the point where we don't have storage, because the storage spaces are all maxed out in totally inefficient and stupid ways (because I guess we are the kind of invisible hoarders whose house looks okay, but whose closets are landfills).
My goal is to move all the Christmas doings downstairs into my study closet, where I can access them easily. I would then have more shelf space in the upstairs linen closet for . . . LINENS. I keep our own bed linens, plus a spare set for the daybed in the study, in a drawer in my dresser (I don't keep any actual clothes in this dresser at this point, but it does have one functional drawer that's good for two sets of linens). But we have four beds upstairs, plus whatever I set up for the extra guests for Christmas, and it would be nice to use those shelves for bedding. It would actually be nice to be able to see ANYTHING in that closet. Yesterday I opened the door, and I quickly shut it again in horror. But I think today I'm ready to tackle it.
Wearing (for the day; I'll probably change to go out tonight):
*Secondhand Wool& Sierra dress (S) in Washed Navy, bought November 2024, last worn December 2. Total wears this year to date: 2
*Thrifted Chico's linen big shirt, bought December 2023, last worn quite some time ago. This shirt cost $4 at Goodwill, so by now, even though I don't wear it all the time, the cost-per-wear is well into the negatives.
*Secondhand Allbirds tencel-merino leggings, bought January 2024, also last worn some time ago. I've been leaning heavily on my wool tights, but thought I might give these leggings a whirl today.
*Boody bamboo socks, bought sometime in 2022 or 2023, I forget which, but they're nice and cushy and I wanted to wear them inside my boots, to give the Devold wool socks a day's rest.
*Secondhand Birkenstock Melrose boots in Graphite, bought summer 2023, in their second season of regular wear (last worn yesterday, and alternating pretty regularly with my Tari boots).
I've been trying not to repeat dresses too much, but given my plan for today, a comfortable, sturdy outfit seemed called for. My Wool& Fiona stood up just fine to closet cleaning yesterday, this good thick wool and dark non-dirt-showing neutral felt like the right thing for the day's pursuits. Besides, I love the Sierra. I had kind of forgotten how much I loved it. I really should never have gotten a Long size in my original, because it's much more fun and wearable as a shorter dress, but even so, this swing shape seems about right for me.
Nice to be wearing an almost-entirely-secondhand outfit today. Only my socks were new to me (and they're two years old now, I believe). I am not ruling out ever buying anything new again --- for one thing, I'm just not buying used underpants or socks, like ever, sorry, and for another, I do think I might buy another Sierra, when they release the Iris Blue color. I have been wanting a dress in that color for a long time, like ever since they released it in whatever styles they did release it in a year or so ago. I'm torn, actually, between a Sierra and one of the Goldie pinafore dresses, which also seem as though they'd be fun to wear year-round. What I am thinking, though, is that if I really wanted a short, straight pinafore dress, the thing to do would be to take this Japanese linen pinafore I bought very cheap secondhand late last fall and have it hemmed. It's been sitting on my "out" stack, mostly because I already have some pinafores, but really because it had split up the front seam, where there was already a slit in the skirt, and I hadn't felt like mending it. I don't trust myself to be able to hem it straight, but that would be an inexpensive fix at the seamstress, and I could take it up above my knees, so it wouldn't need a slit at all. THEN it might work as a hiking dress for next summer, as well as an all-around knocking-around-in dress.
So I think I might actually do that, and then plan to buy an Iris Blue Sierra when they appear, and let that be my new dress for the coming year. I don't think I'm going to make any rules for myself for 2025 --- there's no point, when all I do is break them. I will do a no-buy in Lent (I'm kind of doing one right now, in Advent, at least for clothes for myself, although if that Iris Blue Sierra becomes available, I might go ahead and get it and be done with it), because that seems a good discipline. I might do alternate months of no-buy --- no-buy in January, open window in February, no-buy starting in Lent, which begins March 5, until Easter, open window in April and May, no-buy in June . . . and so on. That works better than some big rule, not least because it helps me plan ahead. If I want a dress for Easter, for example, I would need to find it before Lent and then put it away until Easter. Not that I would absolutely need a new dress for Easter, but that is a nice time to have one, that would then be my new summer dress.
But we'll see. These are just thoughts.
Today's weather is warmer --- it was already above freezing when I got up this morning, and the high is supposed to be 52F. Tonight's low is 17F, however, and the next few days promise to be chilly, but mostly bright.
So I'm wearing my dress with no layer under, just this linen shirt over, because I know I'll get plenty warm working in the house, especially upstairs.
Letting my hair air dry for a while, though I'll need to finish it with the diffuser before I take the dog out. As indeed I should shortly do. One reason for cleaning the upstairs closet today is that tomorrow is St. Nicholas Day, and I need to find the box with all my St. Nicholas/Santa figures, because they emerge on the Eve of St. Nicholas, and are there when we get up in the morning. I realize that I have forgotten to send chocolate coins to the college kids, and it's too late now, but oh well. They are adults, over 21, and can buy their own chocolate, I guess.
And now I had better get on with it --- which is how I always sign off, I realize. NO MORE PROCRASTINATION. ONWARD. EXCELSIOR.
EVENING UPDATE:
A Tale of Two Closets:
This is the study closet, which I cleaned out yesterday. It might not look as though I had done a purge here, but believe me, I did. What you see now are all the Christmas things, which had been in the upstairs bathroom linen closet, in a state of some disarray (some is frankly an understatement), but are now organized and neatly bestowed upon the shelves down here, where I know where everything is and can put my hand on it immediately. This closet is still a work in progress --- we have at least a decade's worth of financial records that really need to be shredded --- but it's so much better than it was before. I also hope that once we get at least one of the under-eaves closets in my husband's office cleared out, we can set it up with shelves to store the things he currently has archived down here, freeing up some more storage space for me.
And this is the upstairs linen closet:
Again, I didn't take a "before" photo, but let me tell you . . . I threw out so many trashed Christmas gift bags and smashed boxes that had all wound up on the closet floor . . . we recycle gift bags year after year, but our stock had become unmanageable, and some bags (much recycled) had finally had it. There was other stuff just dumped in there as well. So I purged it, took out all the Christmas decor to stow in the downstairs closet where I'd made room, and then condensed all the recycled gift-wrap supplies on that one shelf. I folded all the full and twin sheets and put them, and that red bin of pillowcases, all together on the bottom shelf, which left room for quilts and mattress covers on the shelf above.
Now, people will go in there looking for gift-wrap supplies or sheets, and they will not leave it tidy. I know this. It makes me homicidal to know it, but I'm trying to get a grip. The good news is that there's a lot less to trash than there was before, which is the key. I'm not a minimalist, but there's no point in setting yourself up to have a bigger mess on your hands than is absolutely necessary.
This house does have nice closets, I have to say, when they are straight and functional. Our bedroom closets are not large, but that's okay. We don't have an attic, at least not a useable one, so the upstairs closets have taken on that duty . . . and really, it's time to clean them out and reorganize.
AND the husband is taking me to the pub in Hickory tonight, for special. I did change my clothes, too.
*Secondhand Not Perfect Linen Smock midi dress (M) in Dark Turquoise, bought November 2024, last worn November 14? That long? I guess so. Total wears this year to date: 3
*Thrifted Banana Republic merino pullover/base-layer sweater, bought November 2024, last worn December 2.
*Secondhand Talbots merino blazer cardigan, bought January 2023 (I think?), been a while since I last wore it, but it is Advent, and this cardigan is super warm.
*Snag merino tights redyed Sapphire blue, bought spring 2022, worn yesterday.
*Secondhand Birkenstock Melrose boots, which I've had on all day and decided to keep wearing.
I love this linen dress --- can't believe I haven't worn it since November 14. It might well be my Christmas Eve dress this year, but it pairs well with purple now.
I'm worn out and hungry and looking forward to my beer and burger. Our regular pub has a pizza food truck, which neither of us was really feeling --- at Olde Hickory Station (one of my favorite places anyway) we can sit down and they'll bring the food to us, and it will be good and substantial, which pizza really isn't. Don't get me wrong, I love pizza, but after working this hard all day, up and down the stairs and out to the trash, over and over, I want more protein than that.
So off we go to get it.